In the early days of computing, new applications were often installed via physical disks, which made it difficult for a malicious agent to impersonate a legitimate developer. Now, applications are often downloaded via the Internet from a wide variety of sources, including websites and application distribution platforms. Unfortunately, fraudulent websites and malicious developers can easily mimic legitimate developers and applications, potentially causing users to download malicious applications and posing a great risk to the security of users, systems, and enterprises.
Digital signatures are often used to ensure that applications originate from legitimate, trusted developers rather than a potentially malicious imposter. Unfortunately, the trustworthiness of a digital signature is directly proportional to the security of the private key used to create the digital signature. For example, if a private key has been compromised, then malicious agents can impersonate the key's signatory even more effectively by signing malicious applications using the compromised private key.
Traditional systems for verifying digital signatures often lack mechanisms for determining if a private key used for a digital signature has been compromised. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for identifying and protecting against private keys that have been compromised.